A vaccine intended to be a disease modifying drug for Alzheimer’s disease patients has passed a Phase 1 safety trial, according to the creator of the vaccine, AXON Neuroscience.

This makes AXON the first company to successfully complete a Phase 1 study with an active immunotherapy treatment aimed at diseased tau proteins that cause neural degeneration in Alzheimer’s patients. The vaccine is designed to stimulate patients‘ immune systems to attack these diseased proteins, and halt the progress of Alzheimer’s disease.

Commenting on the announcement, Michal Novak, AXON’s chief science officer and company co-founder, said that “the first phase of clinical trials shows that we’ve managed to build a robust and safe vaccine for Alzheimer’s disease. That was the task of the first phase, which was met 100 percent.”

AXON will present its results from the Phase 1 study at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) later this month.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia. One of the hallmarks of the disease are neurofibrillary tangles, which consist of disease modified protein tau. The occurrence of these neurofibrillary lesions correlates with memory loss and disease severity. AXON’s vaccine, called AADvac1, stimulates patients’ immune systems to generate specific antibodies against diseased forms of tau protein and thus protect the brains from neurodegeneration.

This first-in-man, first-in-class study was designed to assess safety and tolerability of the AADvac1 active vaccine in the treatment of patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease. Regular review by the Data and Safety Monitoring Board revealed no safety concerns throughout the duration of the study, and it was concluded in general that the vaccine was well tolerated, which leads to promising expectations.